United States Congressman Riley Moore has called on President Donald Trump to take what he described as “forceful action” against Nigeria, including possible sanctions, following renewed killings in Plateau State, where gunmen attacked mourners during a mass burial in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area on Wednesday, opening fire on villagers who were burying seven people killed in an earlier assault on their community, in what eyewitnesses described as a coordinated simultaneous attack across more than five communities south of Jos.
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Moore, who said he had previously visited Nigeria, directly criticised the Nigerian government’s response to insecurity, alleging that while Nigerian authorities “responded swiftly to quell a coup in Benin,” they “stand by as their own Christian citizens are brutalised,” and described the situation in Plateau as “all the more unconscionable.”
The attack, which left an unconfirmed number of people dead and several others wounded, occurred as armed men who had been observing the burial ceremony from surrounding hills suddenly descended on the community and opened fire on mourners as they were digging graves, according to eyewitnesses who described scenes of chaos as villagers fled for their lives while being pursued by gunmen who overwhelmed local defenders armed with hunting rifles and locally made weapons.
The attack occurred on Wednesday in Nding Fan District of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, a community that was already in mourning following an earlier assault that had killed seven residents.
Villagers had gathered to conduct the mass burial of the seven victims when the assailants struck. According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers had been positioned on surrounding hills, observing the burial ceremony, before descending on the community and opening fire.
Masara Kim, a journalist who was present at the burial site, provided a harrowing account to journalists via telephone.
“There is an ongoing, massive attack on communities south of Jos. More than five communities are under simultaneous assault. While we were at the burial site, the attackers emerged from the hills and began shooting,” Kim stated.
He described how the mourners, who had barely begun digging graves, were forced to abandon the burial preparations and flee for safety.
“The mourners had barely dug a shallow grave when the attackers struck, forcing them to hurriedly bury the bodies and flee for safety,” Kim recounted.
He disclosed that a man was shot dead in his presence during the attack, providing direct eyewitness testimony to at least one killing.
Kim said local defenders who attempted to resist the attackers were overwhelmed. Armed with hunting rifles and locally made weapons, the community defence units were no match for the firepower of the assailants.
The journalist said he narrowly escaped the attack, adding that many residents fled the community as the gunmen advanced. The exact casualty figure could not be ascertained due to the chaotic and ongoing nature of the situation.
The most alarming element of Kim’s account is the simultaneous nature of the assault. He reported that more than five communities were under attack at the same time, suggesting a coordinated operation rather than a random act of violence.
Simultaneous attacks across multiple communities require planning, communication, sufficient personnel to maintain multiple assault teams, and a level of organisation that distinguishes the operation from the spontaneous communal clashes that the government frequently cites as the driver of insecurity in the Middle Belt.
The coordination suggests an armed group with the capacity to mount military-style operations across a wide area, target multiple communities at once, and overwhelm the limited security presence in rural communities that depend on poorly armed local defenders for their protection.
Rwang Tengwong, the Publicity Secretary of the Berom Youth Moulders Association, described the situation as “terrible,” adding that efforts were underway to rescue persons trapped in the area.
The Berom people, who are predominantly Christian and constitute the majority population in parts of Plateau State including Barkin Ladi, have borne the brunt of repeated attacks in the Middle Belt region over the past two decades. The Berom Youth Moulders Association has consistently called for greater security protection for communities that they say are targeted because of their ethnic and religious identity.
Tengwong’s use of the word “rescue” indicates that at the time of his statement, some residents remained trapped in affected areas, either unable to flee or cut off from escape routes by the ongoing attacks.
Congressman Moore’s statement, issued on Thursday in response to the attack reports, went beyond the expressions of concern that typically accompany international reactions to violence in Nigeria, calling for specific punitive action by the United States government.
“When I visited Nigeria, the government responded swiftly to quell a coup in Benin, but they stand by as their own Christian citizens are brutalised,” Moore stated.
The reference to the government’s response to “a coup in Benin” draws a comparison between the speed and effectiveness of Nigerian security forces when state power is threatened and their perceived inaction when civilian communities face attack, suggesting a disparity in government priorities that Moore characterises as deliberate rather than incidental.
“The situation in Plateau was all the more unconscionable,” Moore added.
He specifically framed the attacks as religious persecution, alleging that “Christians at the burial were targeted by radical Islamic terrorists.”
Moore accused the Nigerian government of possessing the capacity to address the violence but choosing not to: “The Nigerian Government could root out the terrorism and stop the martyrdom of its own citizens. But, despite receiving early warnings of impending attacks, they are nowhere to be found.”
The allegation that the government received “early warnings of impending attacks” but failed to act is particularly serious. If communities or security agencies had intelligence indicating planned attacks on Barkin Ladi and the information was not acted upon, it raises questions about whether the failure was a result of incompetence, insufficient resources, or, as Moore implies, deliberate neglect.
Moore called on the Trump administration to intervene directly, urging “forceful action to defend our innocent brothers and sisters in Christ in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.”
He backed “stronger pressure, including possible sanctions,” against Nigeria, suggesting that diplomatic consequences should follow the government’s alleged failure to protect its citizens.
The sanctions call, if taken up by the Trump administration, could affect Nigeria’s diplomatic, economic, and military relationships with the United States, its largest trading partner and a key security ally. The US provides military assistance, training, and intelligence support to Nigeria’s security forces, and sanctions could involve the restriction or suspension of these programmes.
Moore’s remarks were supported by Sean Nelson, who stated on social media that “we need max US pressure” in line with counter-terrorism efforts, suggesting a broader constituency within US political circles that supports a harder line against Nigeria on religious persecution and security failures.
The Nigerian government has consistently rejected allegations of religious genocide, maintaining that insecurity in the country is driven by terrorism, banditry, and communal violence that affects both Christians and Muslims.
Government officials have argued that characterising the violence as religious persecution oversimplifies complex dynamics that involve land disputes, resource competition, ethnic tensions, and criminal enterprises alongside any religious dimension.
The government has also pointed to ongoing military operations in the Middle Belt and other affected regions as evidence of its commitment to addressing insecurity, while acknowledging that the scale of the challenge exceeds the current capacity of security forces to provide simultaneous protection to all vulnerable communities across a vast territory.
However, for communities like those in Barkin Ladi that have experienced repeated attacks over many years, with limited evidence of sustained security improvement, the government’s assurances ring hollow. The fact that villagers burying the victims of one attack were themselves attacked during the burial suggests a security vacuum so profound that even the act of mourning the dead has become a life-threatening activity.
The Barkin Ladi attack fits within a long-established pattern of violence in the Plateau State and the wider Middle Belt region that has claimed thousands of lives over the past two decades.
The communities south of Jos, including those in Barkin Ladi, Riyom, and Bassa Local Government Areas, have experienced recurring waves of attacks that have displaced entire populations, destroyed villages, and created a semi-permanent state of insecurity that has devastated agriculture, commerce, and social cohesion.
The attacks typically follow a pattern: armed groups descend on communities, often at night or during periods of vulnerability such as harvest season or, as in this case, during burial ceremonies. They kill residents, burn homes and crops, and retreat before security forces arrive. The cycle of attack, displacement, tentative return, and renewed attack has continued for years despite the deployment of security forces and the establishment of military task forces.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, recently stated that “while kinetic operations are necessary to neutralise threats, lasting peace can only be achieved when we address the underlying drivers” of conflict. However, for the communities that bear the immediate brunt of the violence, the underlying drivers are secondary to the immediate reality: they are being killed, and the security forces mandated to protect them are, as Moore alleged, “nowhere to be found.”
Moore’s call for sanctions represents the most explicit demand for punitive action against Nigeria from a US lawmaker in the current congressional session.
International attention to Nigeria’s security challenges has fluctuated over the years, with periodic surges of concern following particularly devastating attacks, followed by periods of reduced attention as other global crises compete for bandwidth.
The framing of the violence as religious persecution targeting Christians has particular resonance in US domestic politics, where protection of persecuted Christian communities abroad has become a significant policy concern for segments of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
If the Trump administration takes up Moore’s call and pursues sanctions or other punitive measures, it would represent a significant deterioration in US-Nigeria relations and could affect cooperation on counter-terrorism, trade, and regional security at a time when Nigeria’s opposition parties are already accusing the government of democratic backsliding and institutional capture.
The Barkin Ladi attack leaves several questions unanswered.
Who are the attackers? Eyewitness accounts describe armed men emerging from hills and opening fire, but no group has claimed responsibility and no arrests have been reported.
Were there early warnings? Moore alleges the government received advance intelligence. If so, what was done with it?
Why were multiple communities attacked simultaneously? The coordination suggests planning and resources that go beyond typical criminal gangs or spontaneous communal violence.
What is the true casualty figure? With attacks ongoing across five or more communities at the time of reporting, and with residents fleeing in chaos, the full extent of the killing may not be known for days.
Where were the security forces? The communities relied on local defenders with hunting rifles who were overwhelmed. The absence of formal security protection during a mass burial, an event that would have been known in advance, raises questions about deployment and intelligence.
For the communities of Barkin Ladi, these questions are not academic. They are the questions that mourners who were attacked while burying the dead, who were forced to “hurriedly bury the bodies and flee for safety,” will carry with them as they confront the possibility that the cycle of violence is not ending but intensifying.
As Tengwong of the Berom Youth Moulders Association stated: “The situation is terrible.”
For those trapped in the communities under attack, those words barely begin to describe it.
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